International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit, non-sectarian, voluntary agency, was founded in 1933 "at the request of Albert Einstein to assist opponents of Adolf Hitler. The IRC helps people fleeing racial, religious and ethnic persecution, as well as those uprooted by war and violence."

History

In 1933, the American branch of the European-based International Relief Association (IRA) was founded "to assist Germans suffering under Hitler. Refugees from Benito Mussolini's Italy and Franco's Spain were later assisted."

In 1940, the "Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) was formed to aid European refugees trapped in Vichy France, with over 2,000 political, cultural, union and academic leaders rescued in 13 months." In 1942, the IRA and ERC joined forces "under the name International Relief and Rescue Committee, later shortened to the International Rescue Committee."


 * International Rescue Committee: Freedom Award
 * International Rescue Committee: Funders

Member of InterAction.


 * George C. Biddle is Senior Vice President of the International Rescue Committee.
 * Anne C. Richard is Vice President, Government Relations & Advocacy, for the International Rescue Committee.

Board of Directors
Accessed May 2010:

Chairs, Emeriti
 * Sarah O'Hagan, Tom Schick - Co-Chairs, Board of Directors
 * Glenda K. Burkhart, Scott Pelley - Co-Chairs, IRC Overseers
 * Liv Ullmann - Vice Chair, International
 * Jean Kennedy Smith - Secretary
 * Tracy Wolstencroft - Treasurer
 * George Rupp - President and Chief Executive Officer
 * Alan Batkin
 * Winston Lord
 * James Strickler
 * John Whitehead
 * Jonathan Wiesner

Board of Directors
 * Morton I. Abramowitz - Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation and President Emeritus, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
 * Simin Nazem Allison
 * Laurent Alpert - Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton
 * Cliff S. Asness - Managing and Founding Partner, AQR Capital Management
 * Christoph Becker - Global Chief Creative Officer, Gyro HSR
 * Mary M. Boies - Partner, Boies & McInnis
 * Andrew Brimmer - Partner, Joele Frank, Wilkinson, Brimmer, Katcher
 * Glenda K. Burkhart - General Management Consultant
 * Trinh D. Doan - Senior Vice President, Bank of America
 * Kenneth R. French - Carl E. and Catherine M. Heidt Professor of Finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
 * Christopher Gardner - Chief Executive Officer, Gardner Rich & Co
 * Michael J. Gerson - Senior Research Fellow - Center on Faith & International Affairs, Institute for Global Engagement
 * George F. Hritz - Partner, Hogan & Hartson, LLP
 * Aly S. Jeddy - Partner, McKinsey & Company, Inc.
 * M. Farooq Kathwari - Chairman, President and CEO, Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc
 * William Lucy - Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME
 * Robert E. Marks - President, Marks Ventures, LLC
 * Jami Miscik - President and Vice-Chairman, Kissinger Associates
 * Kathleen O’Donovan - Co-Chair of IRC UK Board
 * Sarah O'Hagan
 * Scott Pelley - Correspondent, CBS News/60 Minutes
 * Andrew Robertson - President and Chief Executive Officer, BBDO Worldwide
 * Gideon Rose - Managing Editor, Foreign Affairs
 * George Rupp - President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
 * Scott Scheirman - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Western Union Company
 * Tom Schick - Executive Vice President, American Express Company
 * Michael VanRooyen - Co-Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University
 * Leah Zell Wanger - Principal, Lizard Investors, LLC
 * Josh Weston - Honorary Chairman, ADP
 * William T. Winters
 * Tracy R. Wolstencroft - Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Board of Directors (2008 and earlier)

 * International Rescue Committee: Former Board Members (Retrieved Jan 2007)
 * International Rescue Committee Overseers

Accessed August 2008:


 * Co-Chairs - Alan R. Batkin and Jonathan L. Wiesner
 * Co-Chairs, Overseers - Tom Brokaw (on leave) and Maureen White
 * Secretary - Jean Kennedy Smith
 * Vice Chair, International - Liv Ullmann
 * President and Chief Executive Officer - George Rupp
 * Chairs, Emeriti - Winston Lord; James C. Strickler, M.D.; John C. Whitehead
 * Simin Nazemi Allison
 * Laurent Alpert
 * Alan Batkin
 * Christoph Becker
 * Betsy Blumenthal
 * Andrew H. Brimmer
 * Tom Brokaw
 * Jeremy Carver
 * Florence A. Davis
 * Susan Dentzer
 * Trinh D. Doan
 * Katherine G. Farley
 * H.R.H. Princess Firyal of Jordan
 * Chris Gardner
 * Frederick J. Iseman
 * Farooq Kathwari
 * Cathy Lasry
 * William Lucy
 * Kathleen Newland
 * Indra K. Nooyi
 * Sarah O'Hagan
 * Susan Patricof
 * Scott Pelley
 * Samantha Power
 * George Rupp
 * George S. Sarlo
 * Thomas Schick
 * Jean Kennedy Smith
 * Josh S. Weston
 * Maureen White
 * Jonathan Wiesner
 * Tracy R. Wolstencroft
 * Michael VanRooyen
 * Leah Zell Wanger

Senior Staff
Accessed August 2008:

Headquarters - New York
 * George Rupp - President and CEO
 * George Biddle - Senior Vice President
 * Carrie Ross Welch - Senior Vice President. External Relations
 * Edward Bligh - Vice President, Communications
 * Robert Carey - Vice President, Resettlement
 * Janet Harris - Vice President, Development
 * John Keys - Vice President, International Programs
 * Carolyn Makinson - Executive Director, Women’s Commission For Refugee Women and Children.
 * Anne Richard - Vice President, Government Relations
 * Ellen O'Connell - Vice President, Administration and Board Relations
 * Patricia Long - Vice President, Finance
 * Louise Shea - Vice President, Human Resources
 * Carrie Simon - General Counsel

Headquarters - Europe
 * Sarah Hughes - Director, IRC United Kingdom
 * Gregory Brown - Director, Geneva
 * Hervé de Baillenx - Director, Brussels

Board of Overseers (as of November 2006)
Madeleine Albright, Alan R. Batkin, F. William Barnett, Georgette F. Bennett, W. Michael Blumenthal, Jennifer Brokaw, Glenda Burkhart, Frederick Burkle, Nestor Carbonell, Robert Cotten, Robert P. De Vecchi, Robin Chandler Duke, Theodore J. Forstmann, Kenneth R. French, Maurice R. Greenberg, Andy Grove, Morton Hamburg, Karen Hein, Lucile Herbert, David Hunt, Howard Jonas, Marvin Josephson, Alton Kastner, Irena Kirkland, Henry Kissinger, Yong Kwok, Tom Lantos, Reynold Levy, Vincent Mai, John Makinson, Lucretia Martin, Roberto Martinez, Kati Marton, W. Allen Moore, Robert B. Oakley, Sadako Ogata, Catherine O'Neill, Regina S. Peruggi, Alexandra L. Peters, David N. Pincus, Colin Powell, Donald H. Putnam, Bruce Ratner, Missie Rennie, John Richardson, Felix Rohatyn, George Rupp, Jessica Seinfeld, Barbara Shailor, James T. Sherwin, Nancy Starr, H. Peter Stern, Lee Copley Thaw, John Train, Georgia Travers, William vanden Heuvel, Ronald Waldman, Leah Zell Wanger, Daniel Weiner, Randi Weingarten, Edwin Wesely, Anne Whitehead, Elie Wiesel, Jonathan L. Wiesner, James Wolfensohn, Guy P. Wyser-Pratte. Source

Funding

 * Annual Report
 * Financial Statement

Has received funding from the NED for their work in Afghanistan in:
 * 1993: "To enable the Afghan Information Center in Peshawar, Pakistan to publish a quarterly journal in Pashtu-Dari to promote open discourse and the concepts of human rights, freedom and democracy among Afghanis living inside Afghanistan and abroad."
 * 1995: "The International Rescue Committee received renewed Endowment support for the Peshawar-based Afghan Information Center (AIC) to publish a quarterly magazine, Afghanistan, dedicated to the promotion of open discourse and the concept of democracy, conciliation, and human rights among Afghans living inside Afghanistan and abroad. AIC will continue to collect objective information about new developments in Afghanistan and publish it in Pashto and Dari. Two-thousand copies of each issue will be published and mailed free of charge to Afghans and those interested in the politics of Afghanistan in Europe, the United States, and Australia."

In 1990 they also received a massive $ 995,700 grant from the NED "To provide medical and diagnostic equipment and urgently needed pharmaceuticals for a program of the Solidarity Social Fund."

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * International Rescue Committee-UK
 * Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children - A IRC project
 * Catholic Relief Services
 * CARE International
 * Church World Service
 * Gail M. Gerhart
 * Judy Mayotte - former board member
 * Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke - two time board member
 * Reynold Levy - President of IRC from 1997-2002
 * Danielle Payne - former intern
 * John Heffernan

Contact
IRC Headquarters 122 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10168 Phone 212 551 3000 Email info@theirc.org --

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * think tank
 * Gerry Marton
 * Les Roberts
 * IPKO Foundation